1/48 Hasegawa Nakajima B6N2

Carrier Attack Bomber Tenzan (Jill) Type 12 Himeji Flying Group

by Alan Williamson on Sept 2 2003

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History

The Japanese Imperial Navy, officially adopted the Nakajima B6N2 Tenzan Type 12 carry born attack bomber in March 1944 with a round about 1200 of this type being produced during the war, however the Jill was plagued with problems with the Kasei Model 25 (14 cylinder radial) engine and other factors which postponed its front line debut The Tenzan type 12 had a crew of 3, with the Kasei 14 cylinder which had an out put rate of 1,850hp at take off and a top speed 481.5 km/h (at 400m). The Jill was armed with 7.7mm MGx1 for rear upper defense and 7.7mm MGx1 for rear lower defense. 

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The Kit 09390 

Hasegawa has presented the modeler with a superb model, which is highly detailed. The cockpit is marvelous with the amount of attention to detail, as well as the crisp panel lines which feature on the fuselage and wings. Hasegawa has included extra parts with this kit, although I have know idea as to what most of these extra part are for, since the instructions have no mention apart form parts not for use.   The kit is pretty straightforward to build with some fiddly parts, but with patience there is no problem. Another feature is the ability to have this kit displayed with the wings folded up or positioned down 

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Construction

This model was built OOB except for the seat belts, which were from the Eduard Japanese Navy set; I found this model very easy going to build with very little putty required. I think that the hardest part to assemble was the cockpit sidewall; I found that once they were attached/glued to the cockpit floor that the cockpit had trouble fitting into the two fuselage halves a little persuasion was needed to fit the cockpit but not to much, perhaps a light sanding of either in side the two fuselage halves or the cockpit sidewall to make the fit more easy would have help. The only other parts which might be a slight problem are that of the Fowler Flaps if they are to be positioned down a little bit of fiddly work is required to do this. But with the help of some tweezers the job can be accomplished a little easier. Other than that the rest of the kit is a breeze to build.

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Painting and finish 

The Jill was painted using that of Humbrol paints, with a chipped affect added and a finish with a pastel wash. You will note that the main canopy is not painted, well it was but the paint seeped under the Tamyia masking tape, so I had to get out the trusty oven cleaner and remove the paint. I just haven’t gotten around to repainting it yet. The Jill is finished apart from canopy and a aerial to represent that of the Hemeji Flying Group (April 1945 Kagoshime Pref. Kushira A.B.) 

Alan 

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Photos and text © by Alan Williamson